July 2012

July 31, 2012

The prettiest of pretties arrived from Sandra, one of my round robin partners.

She sent her last page for my book. I'll miss these pages coming in the mail and the exchange of boxes each month.

Our books are now with Stampington, so when we get them back, it will be like discovering them all over again. I'm curious to see which pages will be used in which magazines. They are being divided up as individual creations, not shown as full books.

Sandra sent a boxful of goodies, too, what a sweet surprise that was!

And she made this gorgeous cuff!

Although, my hands aren't quite as gorgeous as the cuff. They are actually kind of disgusting.

I've been gluing and dying today. They say you can tell a lot about a person by looking into their eyes, I think you can tell just as much from hands.

Mine say, "I love my job and am too excited to stop and put on gloves when I decide to dye something"

Today's batch of dyed goods is full of cheesecloth, ribbons, and lace. I dipped it in what I thought was leftover, cold coffee, not knowing that my sister, Sandy, had made a fresh pot until I stuck my hands in it.

The coffee was a good start, but I wanted more depth to the color, so I spritzed it with Tim Holtz Esspresso stain, then more spritzing with Glimmer Mist in pale pink, metallic gold and silver for some shimmer.

I'm making this up for the Romantic Gothic Ghost workshop at my home in October. So, I wanted it spooky, but still prettty, hence the spritzes of sparkles.

I've also been reworking the Raven for my class. I decided to draw some different patterns, and I think I like this one best. Although, now that the bird's head is a little bigger, the crown looks too small...

July 29, 2012

Its been very nice to see the interest in our Romantic Gothic Ghosts day in the studio on October the 6th! We have a lucky 13 signed up so far, before we have shown our projects for the day. I hope that showing them now doesn't spook our guests away...

My class is inspired by this stack of old Edgar Allen Poe books from a garage sale ($1 each), They are tatteringly wonderful.

You'd think that maybe, these would make me think of teaching a book of some kind???

Well, it would make sense to use the pages in art journals. But instead, I was intrigued by using just one section, the poem about the Raven.

I cut the poem into 1-3 line quotes to use as banners on a teacup-raven-thingy.

(no name for the creation yet, I hope I can come up with something better than that eventually)

The two quotes I used for my examples are some of the less interesting lines, I wanted to save the best ones for the students.

Our projects will be Halloween Holiday Decor pieces, that have a romantic feel.

NO purple!

NO orange!

Garish Halloweens, Nevermore!

I've bought some white and gray teacups, we will fill them with vintage paper nests and add a raven made from felted sweaters.

I wish we could do the felting itself that day, but it has to be ready ahead of time. So, I bought a couple of men's 100% wool sweaters at the Goodwill (geez, when did GW prices go so sky high??? $5 each for a crappy, worn out sweater???)

I boiled them in a big pot with liquid Rit dye to turn them a deep, rich black.

Then, drew a raven pattern, cut it out and stitched it up.

I AM NOT A SEWER. If you aren't either, don't be scared!

But- this was fast and easy. Black thread on a black bird doesn't have to be perfect, it hardly shows.

She is trimmed out with pretty black feathers, lace and glitter, then topped with a crown that we will make from antique brass window screening, and decorate with rhinestones. We'll make a strand of pearls for her neck, create the nest, and the arch with the banner and cover it in old millinery blooms.

And of course, the stack of books that the teacup rests on is included. We'll bundle up stacked pages (pre-coffee stained) and tie them with lace and ribbons to use as a stage for our teacup-raven-thingy.

Beth is busy whipping up her class idea too, and from what I saw Friday, its going to be really nice. Hers is a Gypsy fortune teller's guide book of some sort. To be used an art journal. And I gave her one of my Poe books to take apart so she could share the pages with everyone. So, the garage sale books do get to be in an art journal after all.

For details about coming to the class with us in my studio, please scroll down to the previous post, or click on the button on my side bar.

Now, that I have told you that I don't do orange and purple, I'm going to try to sell you a bundle of traditional Halloween colored millinery.

Well, just because I don't use the colors much, doesn't mean they aren't just right for someone's project. And these are nice, old flowers that deserve a good project to be included in.

And this might be way off season, but here is something new in the Boutique too.

July 25, 2012

Beth and I are planning some classes at my studio, a one day event, a bit more casual than Birdsong was. She'll teach in the morning while I get lunch ready, then its my turn to have an afternoon class. Both will be very much in tune with the online Romantic Gothic Ghost online projects we did a couple of years ago.

That online class is still available for $25 or you can get it free when you come to our classes at my home.

Projects for the day are still to be announced, we are in the midst of prototypes. I can promise that they are going to be moody and romantic, a lovely piece to decorate your home with for Halloween, with no garish purple or orange to be seen.

Lunch, complete kits full of vintage goodness, dessert, and drinks will be included, as well as the bonus online class. And we'll schedule some time for coffee and muffins before the work day begins so everyone can get acquainted.

Saturday Oct. 6, 2012 from 9am-6pm

Cost is $100

Email me if you'd like to pay by check, or click here, and scroll to the bottom of the post to get to the pay pal button.

Classes at my home are very casual, tee shirt and jeans type things, not dressy at all. But feel free to be a little witchy for Halloween if you'd like. My Sissy is coming and she will be all witchied-up. I might be too.

Also, I've got to warn you, that we will be surrounded by werewolves. 1-2 lb ones, though, so not as dangerous as most. Twinkle's puppies will be at the age where they will be scampering about underfoot all day. Feel free to snuggle one on your lap while you work if it looks like its getting tired. Sometimes little werewolf cubs need more rest than they think, and should be encouraged to nap.

But only if you are strong willed enough to ignore the tempting price tags tied around their necks. Yep, puppies will be for sale.....

It did my heart good to have some Birdsong friends sign up as soon as I announced this on Facebook Tuesday!! It matters a lot to me that people who have been here before are looking forward to coming back.

This class will have limited seating, and will one day only. If you are coming in town for it, its a great weekend to be in the KC area. The Old West Bottoms area of Kansas City is opened up with tons of once a month junk and antique stores, and the Renfest is going on too. I LOVE both. (Our class is on a Saturday, and I plan on being at Bottoms Up on Friday, and the Renfest on Sunday myself.) more info about both can be found hereAll food served will be homemade, with fresh ingredients. I usually cook pretty healthy and low fat, but I make up for the calorie savings with some decadent desserts.

July 23, 2012

Ever have one of those days when lots of bad or stressful things happen, but you still feel like you had a good day?

Lets see, today I woke up with a sore back and realized that the bed frame had broken and I was sleeping downhill (time to lose some vacation pounds?), then had to go on a opossum hunt through the wild, over grown flower beds in my jammies and high heels (they were the quickest shoes I could grab, since they were still on top of my suitcase from the party and I had to get the critter before it got my chickens!). The beast didn't get a bird, and I lost its trail, but searched high and low, trying to find where it scurried off to. By the way, I was wearing a vintage cotton night gown, the best of bed head styles, and carrying a big pink shovel. That opossum was right to run, I looked crazy.

The dogs did nab a hen later today, but didn't harm her, just her feathers. It was quite traumatic. And its over 100 degrees again today.

Ryan's car broke down, twice. Once, it was out of gas, the second time the battery ran down. Sugarwings and I missed a movie we were headed to when we had to help him instead. He pushed his car to work for blocks uphill, in this heat. We drove off thinking all was well, and it wasn't, I don't know why he didn't call us back!

There was a disagreement with a family member and I'm not one to loose my temper, I'm more of a cheek turner. But today I blew. Not proud of that one.

We made a loaf of bread and the paddle didn't turn, so I had baked flour with wet crusty edges. Not a big deal, but just one more thing today. And did I mention that it was 107 degrees again? The heat is unbearable.

But there was a bloom on our cactus, a gift from a grand child and sits in a pot painted by one of the little fairies.

It kind of stands for the day I've had, lots of problems and cactussy moments, but some how the day bloomed anyway. Having a happy little Sugarwings by my side all day kept me from feeling bad about all the issues that could have gotten me down.

She's my sunny, little cactus flower. Its impossible to have a bad day when I'm with her.

Instead, I enjoyed the good parts of the day. Here are the good points of the day that outweighed the bad ones:

Watching Sugarwings pretend to be in a parade through the grocery store whille holding 2 dozen pink roses on sale for $5.

Dewdrop running into my arms and showing me that she could do all of the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Seeing Ryan handle his car problems with a good attitude and being proud of the man he grew up to be. He has lots of LD issues and was a very short tempered, frustrated child. He is a fine man now and I'm proud of him.

Picking a bag of fresh veggies from the garden, and popping a sun warmed tomato in my mouth

Watching the hens play in the sprinkler to beat the heat.

Taking a meal to a friend who hasn't been feeling well. I wish I saw her more often and I really should try to help more, I'm glad I made time today.

Laughing with my sister-in-law, Sandy who is living with us. Its good to have a freind around to share a silly thought with now and then. I also appreciated having her here to listen to me grumble about all the problems today and to accompany me on the oppossum hunt.

Getting a funny text from my husband who is quite proud of breaking a bed after being married 30 years.

Feeling Twinkle's puppies move for the first time. I love to try to count the bumps in her belly to guess how many will be born.

Seeing how sweet Sugarwings was about missing her movie. She is not a grumbler when things don't go her way. That made me want to not grumble about my peeves either.

Baking a second loaf of bread that turned out crustily wonderful on the outside and soft and almondy on the inside- just in time to have for dinner. As a matter of fact, a slice of that would make a nice bedtime snack too. Except I have no bed, I'll be sleeping on the couch till we get that bed frame repaired.

Oh, and I have a Project Runway recorded and ready to watch, that is the icing on the cake to top off this day.

July 22, 2012

Little Joan's birthday was a heck of a bash. Our Utah relatives are wonderful hosts and threw a lovely party for her special day.

The entrance to the hall featured a floral swag with this welcoming sign.

And there were albums filled with old family photos to flip through. I always love vintage pictures, but when they are of relatives, it really does make them more special. I should copy and use some for my work, just to help my husband's confusion. Because every time I use make something with an old image in it, he looks perplexed and says, "who is that? Do we know them?"

Imagine how relieved he would be if I told him, that yes, we knew the people in the art!

July 21, 2012

It sure didn't take long for me to mess up the studio again! I've had a fun project in the works, actually a couple of them, that I can't wait to tell you about. I'll get to spill the beans soon, but not quite yet.

During the studio tour, someone asked to see a close up of this table that I have a box full of ribbons sitting on. The veneer on the table was peeling up, so I covered it in textured, paintable wallpaper (not vintage, available at many home decor stores). I then painted and glazed the whole table and the wallpaper to match.

When I cleaned up the studio to get photos for the tour, I thought this bowl tucked away under a small table would be a good place to store lace and trims. Twinkle seems to agree with me... but I might need to rethink this plan.

Although, this is her favorite place to relax. Twinkle has decided that with the heat that Kansas has to offer this year, the lake is the best spot to tolerate it.

Mostly, the garage sales I've been to lately have not been worth the effort to get up early. But I did get this little Dorothy dress at one for $1, and Sugarwings loves it so much, she insists on calling Twinkle, "Toto" and wearing the dress over her bathing suit.

I'll leave you with some photos of what I added to the Boutique before we hit the road for Utah.

We will be home over the weekend, all purchases will go out on Monday.

And if you want to sign up for the Faerie Book Swap, please email me, details here. I'll add you to the list when I return.

July 19, 2012

We are going to visit Utah for a few days to celebrate the 80th birthday of my sweet Mother-In-Law. If your fairy pages are ready, its okay to go ahead and mail them, my sons will be at the house and will watch the mail.

People say I shouldn't announce online that I am going out of town, because I'll get robbed. But I do have a grown son who is a weight lifter and who lives here, so I feel pretty secure in saying I'll be gone and knowing all is well with the homestead. So, don't try to rob us while I'm away. You'd have better luck when I'm home and I'm the one you have to face, not him.

I've got some headway made in making covers for the swap. At least I have this pile of heads cut out.

The pages aren't due for a long time, no rush. For me, or for you. And if you haven't joined yet, there is still room for you in the swap, and plenty of time to get them done. They are due Sept. 1st.

Here is another page that I made for the swap. Both sides are covered in this deep gray, floral wallpaper that I chose to fit the Moonlight theme of the title cut out of some sheet music. I thought the gray was a nice, moody, night time sky look.

The fairy is a lady cut from a black and white illustration with a couple sheer millinery petals and some old beading on wire tucked under her back, as wings. The page is edged in black lace, with a bead of silver glitter (Michaels brand $1 bottle of silver glitter glue, instead of Stickles, what a bargain, and it works great)

I added a posy of velvet flowers to her hand.

The text was cut from the same sheet music as the title. I used a circle punch to make the moon from an old book page, added white gold (Martha Stewart) glitter (letting the text peep through) and inked the edges in brown, then glued it down with a rhinestone star nearby.

The back features a hand tinted sepia picture of ballerinas that I added wings to. Its also trimmed in black lace and sliver glitter.

I'm keeping the backs simple, adding just a small touch to them, not a full collage. But feel free to do yours however you'd like. If you want to go all out, please do! Or if you want to just use a pretty paper and leave it at that, its fine too.

There will be new posts to read while I am away at Grandma Joan's big birthday bash and family reunion, so please check back. And do email if you want to join the Faerie Book Swap. I'll add you to the list and send an acknowledgement of it when I get back.

July 17, 2012

Thanks for all of your visits during the studio tour, I know I've shown the room dozens of times before, so I wondered if anyone would even care to see it again. I tried to post photos of different parts of the room than in the past, but some of it was a bit repetitive.

Sugarwings was with me almost every day last week, and luckily we had a break in the weather and were able to enjoy the outdoors for a change. Although, I'm not sure if the cooler air was really cool enough for gloves....

We like to sit in the garden, under an archway covered in vines. In the past, I used to trim them, but now, we let them grow wild and crazy, so that we have an enclosed area to play in. Its shady and cozy. When we sit under the low hanging branches, we feel like we are hidden away in a world of our own. Its a good spot for picnics, hiding from ogres, and for weddings.

We had a special guest at this garden wedding. One of our cuddly, Rhode Island Reds decided to join us in the arbor clubhouse.

These sweet, little hens are becoming part of the family. Its so fun to have them follow us around the yard, curious about what we might be doing in case it involves crumbs of any kind.

Of course, ask me about mid- January when I have to slosh through drifts of snow to go take care of the birds a couple times a day, if I still love them as much.

The chickens are NOT doing their job of eating enough of the bugs. So far, they've been great with grasshoppers in the flower beds, and we've not had to use any pesticides at all in our veggie garden. But they haven't eaten a single chigger from the yard. We are all suffering from chigger attacks, and Sugarwings and I have tried to play only on the paved or gravel areas to avoid getting chewed up.

We are hoping to buy some Guinea fowl, they are champion chigger eaters, but we can't find any full grown hens around to buy.

Every time I wake up at 3am scratching, I swear I'd pay a fortune to own a couple chigger eating birds. Anyone know where I can find some?

We don't like the idea of spritzing the little fairy grand babies with bug spray at all. Especially since I coat my ankles with it and still get bitten.

But this year is the worst I've ever seen for pests. I suspected it would be when we had such a glorious, mild winter. As much as I hate snow and cold, it serves a purpose, and does help keep the bugs down.

So, I'll try to remember that when I feel like complaining about going out to take care of hens in the cold this winter. It probably won't shut me up, though, I most likely will still grumble about the cold.

July 14, 2012

Karen is hosting the Where Bloggers Create studio tour again, and of course, I had to participate! I adore my studio and can't believe how lucky I am to have it.

The blog hop was a good excuse to get the room cleaned up for one thing, and for another, its a bunch of fun to surf through all the links and see all the creative spaces.

The nice thing about a blog party, is that you can take your time, look at a couple here and there, then the list will be waiting for you to come back and check out a few more later.

Beware, this post is a LONG one.

I took over 200 photos of the studio. Don't worry, I'm not posting them all.And I promise, I shut up about half way through and just start posting pictures.

My own studio is all about the things I love. I like to have them out where I can enjoy them, not packed away waiting for some future use. Someday, I might make something with these vintage dresses, but for now, they are curtains.

I'm also all about re-purposing, and salvage. And finding cheap stuff!

This table was a dollar at a garage sale because the veneer was a wreck. I covered the top in textured wallpaper and painted the piece. (you can find custom painting tips and how-tos on my side bar under Tutorials)

The drawer was saved from an old wallpaper chest that had too much water damage to keep. But I love the drawers for holding special tidbits.

Wallpaper chests are one of my favorite storage items. I never pass one up. Even when I come across one that isn't all that pretty, I get it anyway and add different paper to the front of the drawers, like the dark green one with silver paper.

And when my husband got a new desk for his office, I moved his filing cabinet to my studio and covered the drawer fronts with some pretty wallpaper to girly it up a bit. The top is granite, but was actually free! When our kitchen was being remodelled, the guys cut the counter tops wrong and had to replace a piece. They gave me the incorrect one, so I use it as a table top over the file cabinet.

This spool shelf was from a garage sale too, and was cheap as can be. I painted it white, set it on the granite table top and then stuffed it with supplies. This sits right behind my work station so I can wheel my chair around and have everything within easy reach.

The spools of ribbon hang from a ribbon tied to the shelf. It works great till there are a bunch of empty ones, then I have to untie it, to slide them off and put it all back up again. Seems like the empties are always dead center, never on the ends. Still, its worth the effort, I like having the ribbons on display and handy.

This is my desk top. The shelf on it lets me have even more supplies right where I need them, so I don't have to get up and hunt.It doubles my table top storage space, but is low enough that I can chat with friends across the table on craft day.

I'm a big believer in pretty storage! Teapots, floral mugs, old boxes, and other garage sale goodies are put to work all around the room.

This old hanky box is full of ink pads. I like the 99 cent ones from the bin at Michaels. I buy handfuls when I have one of those 25% off your total purchase coupons.

And this little wire plant stand is perfect for keeping a selection of glues and glitters upside down. I store all glue, Stickles, and paints that way, it keeps them fresher and easier to squirt out.

The table itself is not very pretty, but sometimes I'll glue things I like to the edges of it.

This is my glitter storage cabinet.

Because having plenty of Sparklies in life is important!

Besides the large folding tables from the hardware store that I cluster around to use as work spaces, this glass top table is the only new piece of furniture in the room. The rest of the things are from yard sales, auctions, and fleas. I've painted most of them white, like I did this table, so that they have some flow in the room and all the different styles aren't as distracting. Some have rosy wallpaper borders like I added to this one too.

Here is a close up inside. I have plates and bowls filled with different types of jewelry:

clear rhinestones

colored stones

pearly things

porcelain or enamel flowers

buckles

cameos

lockets

figural pieces

hearts

brass charms

and probably some other crap

My friends get tired of seeing me perched over the Dollar Jewelry tables at flea markets, but I find my best stuff while sifting through the piles there.

Its good to have big bowls of flowers nearby too. I tend to buy a lot of hats.... and while most are stored away as is around the room, I do try to pluck a few so that this big punch bowl stays full.

There is a glass front buffet (I got for $40 and fixed up) that I store hats in, but it overflowed, and there are hats everywhere waiting to be plucked.

And birds. I have little birdies everywhere. I set them out for Birdsong and haven't had the heart to put them away.

Seems like flowers have found their way to most of my lamp shades. This lamp shade is an old hat itself. I've just punched a hole in the top to attach it to the finial.

And there are bowls of flowers in the cabinets too. They might be needed someday for a project, but in the meantime, I want to be able to see them and love them, and wipe drool off of them every once in a while. I can never get enough old millinery blooms.

The buffet on the back wall is the one full of flowered hats. I didn't get a close up of the hats themselves.

My studio is one big room, almost 1,000 sq ft. (yippee!) One side, is set up for every day work. The other has two dining tables in it that I use for company, they can be pushed together for parties. But normally, when the studio is not cleaned up (which is most of the time) one table is full of things to photograph and add to my Boutique, and the other is covered with sewing things.

See all the hanging birds? I really need to get a ladder out and get those down, or they will be nothing but dust balls soon.

This bench was made by my son from an old head board, and I painted it.

Here is the view from the dining table side of the room into the working side. The tables there aren't very nice, but they are versatile and can be moved to different configurations. Plus, I can spill paint and glue all over them, slice with exacto blades and not care.

There is a central support beam that we turned into a column, and I've grouped storage pieces and old doors around it to create a divider.

The old doors are hinged together and make great fake walls. Especially the screen and glass doors, they divide the space up while still letting the light come through.

I've used old doors to section off my computer/office area.

The doors also provide spaces to hang more stuff! LIke my great Aunt Caroline's clock and portraits of my grand fairies.

The office space sits inside this room built of doors. (the rug is hand painted vinyl flooring)

Sugarwings has her own area, and these hold all of her art supplies. (but she prefers mine)

Behind Sugarwing's supply chests and work table is this closet. Its overfilled with shipping supplies for my store. If I ever disappear from this blog and you don't hear from me, it will be because I opened that door and was buried in an avalanche of packing peanuts.

This table is actually a pretty antique, but I have so much junk on the shelves below it, I made a table cloth to fit it and hide them.

The door is an original door from our farm house that I painted an iris on.

The metal chimney cabinet is filled with old books.

And the wallpaper box is filled with lace.

This room was built as simply as possible, a cement floor, and dry wall. I've stained and painted the floor, and tried to foof up the place with my pretties to make it feel like home, not a big square space.

Adding vintage chandeliers has helped the room not feel as new as it is. Our cottage is around 100 years old, and I didn't want this room to look blindingly brand new when we added it.

I've also tried to keep everything functional while still being things I liked to see around me. Each cabinet has a purpose. Its pretty well organized, and I can find what I want when I need it. Unless I've set it down somewhere as I walk through the room. Then, its hopeless. I usually have piles of projects all around the room, its easy to lose stuff in them.

Well, I've probably done enough blathering. I'll finish with some closeups around the space, and inside some of the cabinets.